CPU Use is 100% while comparing - background compare should run at below-normal priority so that other apps are not sluggish.

Column Widths on the Details Pane when reviewing differences appear to be fixed and not changeable (all I could manage to do when trying to re-size was to sort). As a result, it's not possible to see the differences in many cases when the displayed part of a particular property is the same on both sides.

An option to ignore differences for future comparisons would be useful: For example, I compare two packages on two servers (say Dev & Test). The only differences are the server names for example. I wish to therefore mark the data-source property for each connection as ignore for comparisons. Then, next time I compare, if anything else has changed, the packages show as different, but otherwise they appear identical.

Smart Comparison would be really good here - an option to repace instances of the server name with a token on both sides of the comparison, so that differences that are due to the fact that the package is on a different server only are hidden.

For example, for a standard SQL Server connection, the DataSource for local database tables will usually (at least in our shop) be the server name. If DTS Compare (logically) replaced it with say (local) on both sides, then the two connections would appear to be the same. I should point out that we deliberately specify the server name rather than specify (local) so that we can develop the packages on our dev PCs rather than the server. Similarly, we tend to use UNC names for both files that are data sources or targets, and for logging locations - for the same reason. We would specify a source as \\\\MACHINENAME\\SHARE\\DATASOURCE.TXT. If DTS compare replaced \\\\MACHINENAME\\ with a token, again these items would compare as identical.

Currently some background compare activities run at below-normal priority, but some don't. This will be improved for the final release. However, CPU time is likely to still show as 100% if your system is busy, as the Windows treams the priority as a scheduling hint rather than effectively a CPU usage cap.

If you or anyone else is seeing sluggish system performance whilst running the application, and the system is not otherwise heavily occupied, then do let us know.

With respect to ignoring differences on future comparisons, it is possible to go into the Filtering panel (via View menu's Filtering option, or by clicking the tab at the bottom left of the window) and set properties of your choosing to "Show but do not compare". This sounds like approaching the funtionality you're looking for, although this is a project setting rather than a package-specific setting.

The argument for replacing UNC path names with placeholders is an interesting idea. I've passed it on to the rest of the team.

I tried setting priority to below normal, and that worked for me - CPU use was still 100% - but windoze was giving priority to processes with a priority of normal at the expense of compare - so e-mail was usable rather than not, for example.

I tried ignoring data source in the filter, but it didn't seem to have any effect - the package still showed up as different when the only difference was data source - even after refreshing the comparison.

I'll have a bit more of a test of filtering because it seem promising.

When you set the project configuration and click Compare, if the login fails it tells you what happened, but then closes the dialog afterwards. You need to go hunting for the project config again. I would expect to get sent back to the project config to correct my error.

The comparison window, “Details for Value”, seems a bit plain, too much white, and a bit hard to line by eye. I prefer the style of SQL Compare with background shading and such like.

In the object comparison, top half of the RH side, it would be nice if the folder icons were customised, little tasks, connections etc on the folder. Just speed up navigation I think, but maybe too much in practice.

I agree it'd be nice to see more type-specific icons. We're to some extent constrained by how much the DTS object model reports to us about each type. We could fudge it for folders at certain positions in the hierarchy, but that wouldn't be as "nice"...

Priority wise, setting your DTS Package Compare process priority to low is definitely a rather handy way to give priority to your other applications. I can't see that any nasty side effects would occur, so depending on your setup this could be a generally good solution.

We're not planning for DTS Package Compare to default its own process priority to anything other than "Normal"; however our worker threads will have their thread priority set appropriately. From Win2k onwards Windows' scheduling is such that thread priorities don't mean as much as they used to though.

Re filtering, I'd might suggest trying setting Connection2's "Connection Properties" property to "Show but do not compare". If I understand which data source property you mean, this should prevent data source names from being compared.